Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Today, I have three random pictures to show you because this is just too freakin' cool.

There is a new technique in photography called: HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range. My hubby just bought an *expensive* Pentax camera last night that can do it.

Basically, the jist is this. The camera will take three to five pictures in succession, one right after another, snap, snap, snap! Five is best to get the best range. The first image is extremely under-exposed. The second image, slightly under-exposed. The third, just right. The fourth, slightly over-exposed, and the fifth, extremely over-exposed.

You then take all of these images and merge them together in Photoshop. The result are pictures that show not only dark shadows, but bright highlights as well. This makes the picture appear to be "painted".

Notice how you can see the dark shadows in the trees and the hue of the sky. These things would have been "washed" out if you hadn't merged the image with an underexposed frame. Not to mention the detail on the bark of the closest palm tree. Amazing. The bright highlights come to play in the clouds, as you wouldn't be able to see the "dotting" effect they have in the sky in a normal picture.

Here is another example:

The dark and light shadows in the clouds would have been lost in a normal shot, due to the "over-exposure" of the sun right behind them. However, due to under and over-exposing this shot, you are able to see the different shades of the clouds, as well as keenly see each and every sunbeam individually, not to mention every single blade of grass. The car itself is more reflective than it would be in a normal picture.

The purpose of this new HDR concept is to take a picture more like what your eye would see rather than what your camera sees. Photographers claim taking photos such as these illiminate the use of lighting equipment when taking your pictures, since the high-highs and the low-lows will not be missed.

Of course, it means you have to be Photoshop saavy, since you are layering all the snapshots together to make one picture. But it still doesn't detract from the fact that these pictures are fricken' sweet.

Looking up at Eiffel like that with the sun behind it would have totally washed out those shadows on the clouds. But not with an HDR photo. :)

DH is hoping to take some GREAT pics while we're at DisneyWorld. I really hope so!